Moving on

When Jane went to pay for our stay on Sunday evening, the day before we planned to leave, the lady mentioned that it was a holiday in Italy for the following two days, so to check that our next site actually had spaces. We rang the site around 7pm and they said that there were no spaces, but to ring in a couple of hours as things might change. Sounded a bit unlikely, but we did and luckily they did have a space so we reserved a spot. 

This was a lovely, natural site. The setting, in amongst the trees, the sound of woodpeckers in the background, and small, wild strawberries everywhere that people picked. 

This meant Monday was a travel day as planned. We packed up camp at the Futa Pass site (we are, not surprisingly, getting pretty slick at it now) and we’re on the road by 8.30am to our next site. 

The first part of the journey was spectacular. The drive through the pass ran mostly beside the river, so we had frequent glimpses of the water, albeit a relative trickle at the moment but still quite dramatic, set in the lush green valley, steep on both sides. This kind of landscape does bring with it lots of bends, twists and turns, but we were in no great rush so could enjoy it all. Jane did have to remind me more than once to keep my eyes on the road though. 

Midway through the journey the landscape flattened out, but as we approached the new site there were new mountains to admire, and they were pretty dramatic, especially with the tops being shrouded in cloud. 

We arrived at the site and checked in. What is a fairly regular process over here is to first walk the site to select the pitch we want, and then return to the reception to book the chosen pitch. When on occasion there is other campers doing this at the same time, it does feel like a bit of a “Catch the Pigeon” moment, as we rush to find and book the best pitch before them. 

This time we are on gravel. Not as natural as most grass/mud/dust pitches we have had, but with some rain due over the next few days a sensible option. 

The site itself is compact but functional, with a bar, restaurant, a small shop and canoe hire. The toilet block is nice, clean and modern (something a lot of site reviews really care about, whereas we don’t stress it if they are basic). As is the case with many sites near landmarks, this one being right next to Lago di Cavazzo, the pitches are pretty small and all the tents, campervans and motorhomes do feel a bit crammed in. Ours, while not the biggest pitch we have had, is by comparison quite spacious. 

We took a stroll round part of the lake. Winnie went for a swim of course, and later we returned with our chairs to sit beside it with our Kindles. 

Back at camp to feed the dogs, we checked the weather (another big part of our days) and saw rain was planned. We setup camp to protect against this just in case - put the sides on and moved everything in a bit - but other than the lightest drops for half an hour or so, the big rain never materialised. This has been a feature of our travels, the weather apps getting it wrong. We use 3 different apps just to get a consensus. The errors tend to be in our favour though, rain is forecast but does not materialise, even when predicted at 60% or 90%.